An Odd Kind of Saviour
by evieeden
Summary: When Rosalie is attacked one night, an unexpected saviour steps forward to change the course of her life. Advent story written for 3rd December.


**Happy 3****rd**** December everyone and I hope you all enjoy this third advent story. There are mild triggers at the beginning of this story, but I promise you they're all over pretty soon.**

**Thank you to the lovely Hev99 who beta'd this oneshot for me. As per usual, I still don't own anything to do with Twilight.**

**An Odd Kind of Saviour**

I screamed as I was forced down to the ground, my coat being viciously torn open.

I kicked out and heard a yell of pain as my heel connected with one of these vile men, these drunkards. For my trouble, Royce slapped me hard across my face and I cried out, already feeling my cheek begin to swell.

I couldn't believe that this was the man I had planned to marry, the man I thought I loved. How could he treat me this way?

He grabbed my chin and forced me to look at him, the stench of alcohol on his breath making me gag.

"You bitch! You'll pay for that." He hit me again and then spat in my face when I started crying. I felt his filthy friends' hands come down on my wrists and ankles, holding me in place. Royce ran a finger down my cheek in a mockery of a caress. "Now be a sweet girl, my Rosie, and don't make any fucking noise. You hear me? I'll carve up that pretty face of yours if you do."

He yanked at my head, tearing my hair loose from its pins and yanking some of it out by the roots. Despite his warning I screamed again and received a backhand for my disobedience. I could hear his friends above me, laughing, joking about how I wouldn't be so prim and proper once they were done with me.

Royce grabbed the hem of my dress and yanked it upwards, ignoring my cry and protest...

And then he was gone, the weight disappearing from above me, the hands pinning me down vanishing. I scrambled to my feet as quickly as I could, and turned to run, when a ferocious growling noise made me look behind me in terror.

I screamed again as I came face to face not with a saviour, not with a terrible beast, but with Doctor Cullen's brother. He looked...wild. His hair was all over the place, his lips curled back over his teeth and, in the dim light, I thought I could see a smear of something bright streaked from his mouth across his cheek.

He held up his hands and backed away from me slowly.

"It's alright. It's all alright now. It's over. They can't hurt you anymore."

I blinked at him, my mouth gaping open, my mind racing to try and understand what had happened.

"Where are they? Where did they run to? Are they coming back?" I hated how my voice trembled as I spoke. I hated showing weakness in front of people and now I was stuttering, my body was shaking, and I felt that I was about to succumb to hysteria at any moment.

"No," the Doctor's brother explained. "They're not coming back. They won't be able to hurt you anymore."

Edward. That was it. His name was Edward.

"That's right," he told me. "My name is Edward Cullen. I'm staying with my brother and his wife while we're here in Rochester."

I frowned. I didn't think that I had spoken aloud, but my attack had disconcerted me to the point where I didn't know what I was doing.

"Miss Hale?"

Mr. Cullen's hand touched my shoulder and I jerked back, stumbling, the heel on my shoe finally giving in and snapping.

"Please don't." I shied away and he obligingly stepped back.

"I won't come near you if you don't want me to, but you should really be getting home. It's late and you wouldn't want to run into any more trouble. May I escort you home?"

I tried to pull myself together and behave appropriately in company like my mother had always taught me to.

"Thank you for the kind offer, but I don't think it would be suitable to show up at home with just yourself as my companion. I appreciate your generosity in offering though and thank you for your assistance this evening with those..."

Words failed me at that point and I settled for offering him a small nod.

"Mr. Cullen."

I walked unevenly away, trying to make as dignified an exit as possible, but about halfway across the street the darkness began to close in on me. The night was suddenly a terrifying thing. The lamp lights blurred in my eyes and before I knew it, there was only black.

I woke up to a muffled conversation. I could hear whispering voices arguing as I tried to get my bearings. I was no longer on the street, but lying down inside, and I realised to my shame that I must have fainted.

The hissing voices in the background continued to bicker.

"...what you did tonight was very dangerous, Edward."

"What did you want me to do, Carlisle? Leave her lying there to be killed, to be violated by those human monsters?"

"No. You know I would never wish harm on an innocent like that. But if you'd been seen..."

"Nobody saw me."

"_She_ did."

"She was dazed..."

"Which is all the more dangerous because you don't know what she took in, what she might remember later down the line. I'm not saying that you shouldn't have stopped her fiancé, even though I am somewhat disappointed by your methods of dealing with him and his accomplices, but you could've got out of there without being seen."

"And left her alone and vulnerable in the street? Is that what you would have done if it had been Esme out there?"

"Edward, you don't-"

"Boys." This new voice I could hear was female. This must be the doctor's wife, Esme. "Please quieten down and stop bickering. Our guest is awaking and what will she think of your manners if she overhears you two talking like this."

There was silence for a moment and then I felt a cool hand press gently over my forehead.

"Miss Hale?"

My eyelids felt increasingly heavy as I tried to blink them open. The room slowly came into view, a sitting room that rivalled ours at home for comfort and opulence. A blond-haired man was crouching directly in front of me, the doctor whom I had heard so many whispers about in society but never spoken to. Beyond him were two other figures, my rescuer, Mr. Cullen, and the doctor's wife.

"Miss Hale, how are you feeling?"

As if my body had just been waiting for that question to be asked, it immediately ignited with pain. My ankle throbbed from where I had stumbled on my broken shoe, my face burned from the beatings it had suffered, both my wrists were sore and my back ached from where I had been thrown to the ground. I was in so much pain.

But I was alive. I was alive and I was still pure.

I had much to be thankful for.

"I'm well, thank you. A little bruised from the evening's events, but intact apart from that."

I pushed myself up to sit sideways across what I could now see to be a chaise longue.

"Thank you for being kind enough to watch over me. I must have fainted from the strain of the evening."

The wife - Esme, I reminded myself - bustled forwards and took my hands in her own. "Of course. Edward would never have left you as you were, only he was uncertain as to your family's reaction if he took you home in this state, and he wished Carlisle to look over you in case you had hit your head. Apart from a few small injuries though, you appear to have emerged unscathed."

I wasn't so sure that they were glad that I suffered no damage to my mind. There seemed to be a problem between the doctor and his brother over my rescue. However, even though I was trying to put on a brave face, inwardly I was relieved that I had no real damage to show for my misadventure. I was worried about what would happen when I had to see Royce again. My parents would not be happy when I broke off my engagement, but for now I was safe and that was all that mattered.

"Forgive me, but I should be getting home. My mother will worry if I'm out too late."

"Of course."

As if they had all come to life there was a sudden bustle of movement in front of me. It was like watching a façade on a stage when the actors suddenly jolted out of their frozen positions to change the scene.

"Shall we accompany you home? That way we can reassure your mother that you're not harmed seriously in any way."

I was about to decline but then remembered that horrible feeling that had crept over me right before I had fainted, that overwhelming darkness. I thought about all the other groups of inebriated men that possibly stood between me and my home.

"Again, thank you. You're very kind."

"Not at all," Doctor Cullen said. "We wouldn't wish for you to have to walk home unattended at this time of night."

The Cullens quickly donned their overcoats, scarves, hats and gloves and we all headed back outside. The wind had picked up while we were inside and it was now snowing. I tried to avoid thinking about how I could have been lying in this snow if my fiancé and his friends had had their own way with me.

Doctor and Mrs. Cullen linked arms and began to stroll in the direction of my home. I wasn't sure how they knew where I lived, but at that time I couldn't find it within me to care. Edward Cullen offered me his arm, but I couldn't make myself take it. In the end I had to be half-carried by him anyway as when I tried to walk, my ankle gave way beneath me.

When we reached home, my mother screamed when she saw me.

"Oh my poor baby, Rosalie! What happened to you?" Pulling me towards her, she enfolded me in her arms and I hugged her back. I was home at last. I was safe. "Martha! Martha!"

Our housekeeper ran into the hall from the back of the house.

"Take Rosalie upstairs and pour a hot bath for her. The poor love has had a harrowing experience."

As our kindly help led me carefully up the stairs, I heard my mother invite the Cullens into the parlour.

"Doctor and Mrs. Cullen, Mr. Cullen, do come in, do come in. Thank you so much for bringing my Rosalie home. We were beginning to get worried with how late she was out, and for her to come home in that state..."

Her voice trailed off as she left the hall with our guests.

She came up half an hour later when I was laying soaking in the bath, the hot water doing wonders for my aching body.

"Oh, Rosalie." She knelt by the side. "Doctor Cullen told me all about your accident."

My body tensed at my attack being described as an accident and I briefly wondered whether my mother would still insist upon my honouring my engagement to Royce.

Oblivious to my concern, my mother continued talking. "The way these people drive nowadays, it's criminal, especially if they've been drinking. It really is shocking though that someone would just leave you there in the middle of the road."

"What?!" I finally paid enough attention to hear what she was saying. "What do you mean?"

"Your accident," she said patiently, as if I were a small child. "Doctor Cullen told me all about it. I don't think the police will ever find out who the owner of the car that hit you is, although they deserve to be locked away for what they did to you. You're lucky that the family was getting some fresh air at the same time and saw you when you fell."

My mouth gaped open.

They had lied.

They had told my mother a lie about how I had come to be in trouble. Why would they do that?

I went to disabuse her of the inaccuracies of the Cullens' story when I hesitated. I knew my mother. She cared for me, but if I were to contradict Doctor Cullen now, she wouldn't believe my story. She would assume that I was making it up.

Edward Cullen's face floated in my memory. He had told me not to worry about Royce. He had saved me from him and his friends and then made sure I got home safely. I sighed. I would have to trust that he was a man of his word and that those men wouldn't bother me anymore, although I had no idea how he was planning on making that happen.

My mother was oblivious to my internal ramblings and was still talking.

"...and your beautiful face. I can only hope that it heals up properly, otherwise-"

"Mother," I finally interrupted her. "What are you talking about?"

She sniffled and wiped her hand across her eyes. "Your face of course."

Panic began to fill my body for the second time that night. "What's wrong with my face?"

She stopped my hand before it could touch my cheek, making me lower it back into the water.

"Well of course you haven't seen it yet. The Cullens brought you straight home. You wouldn't have looked at a mirror yet."

"What's wrong with my face?" My voice was becoming increasingly louder and, with a regretful sigh, my mother disappeared out of the bathroom and returned with a hand mirror. I snatched it out of her hands and gasped at my reflection.

My hand hovered over my cheek, but I didn't touch it. I had felt Royce's slaps and punches, felt my jaw ache and my face swell, but I hadn't realised up until that moment just how...damaged... I looked.

One of my eyes was nearly swollen shut and both sides of my face were bruised and battered. A faint line of bruising marred my neck where Royce had used his grip on my throat to force me to the floor, although I doubted my mother had noticed.

The worst was my cheek that had suffered several hits, and it was that which my mother was staring mournfully at, shaking her head in dismay.

When Royce had hit me, something must have caught my face – a ring or a cufflink, maybe – and the skin had been torn open, a wide red gash slashing across the perfection that used to be my face.

I nearly threw the mirror back at my mother.

"I don't want to see anymore."

"Of course not," she agreed. "Still, let's get you out of there and into bed and we'll have the doctor come in the morning to look over you. With any luck it's just a flesh wound that will heal in no time."

She offered me what was supposed to be a comforting smile, but I could see her lower lip trembling as she fought off her sobs. I tried to smile back at her. Neither of us was very convincing.

She helped me to dress and get ready for bed and when the lights were finally out and the entire household was quiet, I finally let the shock and terror of the evening take over me. I felt as if I had been holding on by a knife edge all evening and it was only now that I could safely bury my face – my poor ruined face – into a pillow and cry myself to sleep.

The next morning was a bustle of activity with the doctor visiting and both of my parents fussing around. I was ordered to rest for a few days until I could walk on my twisted ankle. The bad news was that the doctor could not promise me that my cheek wouldn't scar.

Father had insisted on contacting Mr. King Senior to let him know that I would be unable to attend a planned engagement celebration the next day and returned with the perplexing news that Royce and his friend, John, had left the house in high spirits the night before, but not returned yet.

I couldn't help my sigh of relief at hearing this, although I managed to look suitably upset for appearances' sake.

The next few days were spent in much the same way.

On the third day though, I received a visit from Mr. and Mrs. King, both visibly shaken, who informed both myself and my parents tearfully that the bodies of Royce and several of his friends had been found discarded in the river. There was an investigation into their murders occurring, but they felt for sure that their son had been killed by one of the homeless gangs of men roaming the streets who had stolen his finery from him.

I couldn't hide my shock, which luckily the Kings took as a sign of my genuine distress at the death of my fiancé. Instead, my disbelief had an entirely different source. Still, I managed to utter my condolences to his family and agreed to attend the lavish funeral they were putting on next week.

When they left, I asked my parents for some time to myself, and they hurried my brothers out of the room, hushed whispers echoing through the halls about how this must be a devastating blow to me.

My mother was hissing at my father.

"Poor girl. What do we do now? In one week she's lost both her fiancé and her looks. People will talk, you know, and I don't want anything getting in the way of her making a good match in the future."

My mouth curled up scathingly. How typical of my parents to immediately begin thinking of marrying me off again as soon as possible. I was only as good as the son-in-law I could produce for them.

I let the rest of their words brush over me though and I thought about what I had been told.

Royce was dead.

_Royce_ was _dead_.

My fiancé, the man I thought I was in love with, the man who had tried to violate me was dead.

And I didn't care.

I knew a part of me should be horrified that I wasn't more distraught that Royce had been murdered, but then I recalled how I had begged him not to hurt me and how he had laughed at my screams of pain, and any guilt melted away.

What I should be more worried about was that I was fairly certain who had killed him.

I remembered the bright look in Edward Cullen's eyes that night. I remembered the suspicious smear across his mouth, how he had dispatched my assailants with little effort despite facing six fully-grown men. I could hear his reassurances now that I would never have to worry about Royce coming after me again.

He certainly wouldn't be now.

Edward Cullen had murdered my fiancé and, from the whispers I had heard when I was coming around in the Cullens' residence, his brother and sister-in-law knew about it.

As if my presence had summoned him, I heard a knock at the door and his smooth voice asking for admittance to the house a minute later. The clattering of my mother's heels passed the door of the parlour and seconds later I heard her effusive voice greeting him.

"So good of you to come and check on Rosalie, Mr. Cullen. Martha, take Mr. Cullen's hat and coat for him and fetch some drinks."

"I'm fine, thank you. Myself and my family were just anxious to check on Miss Hale's health following her accident."

"Oh, Mr. Cullen."

I rolled my eyes. I knew if I could see my mother now she would be simpering at the younger man.

"She's a lot better now, thank you. The doctor still won't allow her to walk on her ankle, but apart from that she's almost as good as new. A little despondent though; you'd have heard the news."

"The news?" His voice in contrast to mother's sounded perfectly smooth and calm. Anyone listening to him would presume that he was truly surprised by the news of Royce's death that my mother was now imparting to him.

"...so it will be lovely for you to visit with Rosalie. She's been so upset by the news and I'm sure you'll be able to cheer her up for a while."

Even I could hear the amusement blatant in his voice when he replied. "I'll try my best, though I dare say Miss Hale must be devastated."

"Oh she is, she is."

Mother knocked on the door and then pushed it open. "Rosalie? There's someone here to see you. Please do go in, Mr. Cullen. Are you sure you wouldn't care for some refreshments."

"No, thank you."

"I'll leave you two to talk then." She exited the room backwards, closing the door behind her.

Mr. Cullen stared at the door, listening for her retreat, before he turned to face me and offered me a small bow.

"Miss Hale."

If he was going to be haughty then so could I. I sat up straighter in my chair.

"Mr. Cullen. Please, do have a seat."

He smiled then, just a small quirk of one side of his mouth, before he sat down opposite me.

"You look better."

"I am, thank you. Although the doctor cannot tell me just yet whether the cut on my face will scar or not."

He narrowed his eyes. "It would be a pity for such a thing to mar your beauty."

I accepted the compliment with a nod. "It would, but then, since you and your family have moved to Rochester, I think it's fair to say that my face no longer holds the allure it used to."

He smirked as if he was hiding some secret from me.

"I will say thank you again though." My voice was quieter now. "For what you did for me, I mean."

He shifted uncomfortably. "I did what any other concerned person would have done."

"No, I don't think so."

Silence fell over the room.

I finally asked the question I had been mulling over before he got here.

"Did you kill him?"

He leaned forward and stared at me, searching my eyes. He must have found whatever he was looking for because he sat back in his chair.

"He was planning on killing you, you know. They had it all planned out. You would never have made it home that night if they had gotten their way."

His words chilled me. I had already come to terms with my own mortality, how close I had come to dying, but the thought of just being left there to die still made me shudder. Mr. Cullen leaned forward and pressed his hand against mine before sitting back.

"Death is not so scary, Miss Hale, but neither is it the heavenly bliss that others speak of."

I stared into his eyes, those burning eyes, his blinding beauty.

"I think you must be an avenging angel," I decided.

That made him laugh. "Avenging, yes, but I think I'm a long way from being angelic."

That made me smile. Quiet fell again, but it was comfortable this time.

I didn't know what Edward Cullen or his family were or why they were in Rochester, but I thanked God that they were here. I should have been horrified that he had admitted culpability in the murders, but his warnings that it could have been me made me a lot more practical about the situation.

Eventually, Mr. Cullen sighed and stood up. "I should be taking my leave now. I only wanted to check that you were safe and healing from your ordeal."

"I am, thank you. Although I am expected to attend Mr. King's funeral, as befits the perfect fiancée." For the first time I allowed some bitterness to creep into my tone.

"It's just one day," he reassured me. "One day in a week's time and then you'll be able to move on and find someone else who you can truly love and who will treat you right."

I smiled again at his confidence, but this time I felt the wobble in my smile. "Not if I end up scarred." I touched the wound on my cheek ruefully. "I'm only as good as my looks unfortunately. And no man wants an unattractive wife."

He shook his head. "You know not every man is as shallow as Royce King and his cronies."

"Ha! Name one," I challenged.

He gave that crooked smile again and then taking me by the shoulders, pressed a kiss to the ruined side of my face.

"We'll be leaving soon, I think. We won't really be able to stay in the city for long after this." He gave me another bow, but this time I could see the mockery in the gesture. "Goodbye Miss Hale. I wish you all the best for the future."

Copying his formal language, I inclined my head regally.

"Thank you, Mr. Cullen. Please give my best regards to your brother and sister-in-law for their kind assistance."

Shooting me a sly grin, he opened the parlour door as I called for Martha to return with his coat.

"By the way, Miss Hale, if you were to attend the Wilson's party next month, you may wish to consider Mr. Molloy as a suitable dance partner."

I arched an eyebrow at him. "Mr. Molloy? You don't mean George Molloy, my father's secretary, do you?"

He nodded sharply.

"I've always found him to be a kind and generous man, certainly not one concerned with appearances."

I was left hanging with my mouth open as he swiftly donned his coat and then lightly touched the brim of his hat.

"Miss Hale."

He disappeared out the door and seconds later my mother bustled back into the room.

"Well that was certainly a nice surprise, wasn't it, Rosie? It's very kind of the Cullens to be so concerned about you."

I shut my mouth with an audible click.

"It certainly was a surprise."

It was another surprise when, the week after Royce's funeral, the Cullens moved away. Edward Cullen had hinted as much to me, but I never really expected them to pack up and leave so soon. Father heard from one of his associates that Mrs. Cullen had been disturbed by the murders in the area and petitioned her husband to move to a safer area.

With Royce dead and the Cullens gone, that traumatic time seemed to drift away, carried farther from me by the haziness of memory.

I healed and re-entered society. It wasn't the same as before; my face wound had inevitably scarred and I was left with a thin pink line diagonally crossing my cheek. People talked about me more than ever. They still admired me, and even with the scar, I was still the most attractive woman in the county, but the experience had changed something fundamental inside me and on the outside, society could tell I was different.

I was courted and eventually married a man who went to work every day with a smile on his face, and who kissed me when he came home and I greeted him at the door. George Molloy was a good man who had loved me from afar for most of my life and as I grew up I learned to love him back, until I couldn't remember ever feeling the same about any other man.

We moved away from Rochester eventually to a smaller town, one where society mattered less and community mattered more. Apart from my family, my friend Vera was the only one I kept in touch with; there was no-one else I cared enough about.

I gave birth to my first child, a daughter, when I was twenty-three. She was a beautiful little girl, fair-haired and violet-eyed like myself, but with her father's features and smile. She was utterly irresistible and I swore that I would never let her be like me. She would never know pain or suffering or the cruel touch of a man's hand. She would never be bartered away to be a rich boy's plaything just for the sake of reputation and status.

It was not often during that time that I thought about the Cullens. My little girl took up much of my time and energy, but one winter's day, I took the baby out in the pram for some fresh air when some sixth sense made me look up.

He was sat there on one of the park benches as if it were a perfectly natural place for him to be. The wind swirled through his hair, making him look wild, and I could've sworn that he hadn't aged at all in the five years since I had last laid eyes upon him. If I hadn't recognised him, he would be the type of man I would avoid.

I pushed the pram up to the bench and sat down next to him.

"Mr. Cullen."

"Mrs. Molloy."

I smiled at him addressing me by my new name. I didn't bother asking him how he knew about my marriage. "I wasn't expecting to see you here."

He shrugged. "Carlisle has taken up a new position at a hospital in the next county. I didn't think it was too far away to come down and look up old acquaintances." He turned to look at me directly for the first time, his eyes running over my face, lingering on my scar before darting away. "You look happy."

I smiled. "I am happy, thanks to you. I have a husband whom I love very much, a daughter I cherish beyond anything and a comfortable home. There's much to be grateful for."

Edward peered over into the pram. "She looks a lot like you, I think, maybe more so now then when she grows up, then I think you'll be able to see more of her father in her."

I nodded thoughtfully.

"May I enquire what her name is?"

"Catherine Lily," I told him with a proud smile. "She was born almost six months ago today."

"You're very blessed." He half-smiled but this time there was an edge of sadness to it.

"I am. But I have you to thank for that." I glanced down at my hands and then back up at him again. He was staring at Catherine in fascination and she seemed equally entranced by him. "Really, Edward." I called him by his Christian name for the first time. "Thank you so much for all that you have done for me. I wouldn't have all of this if you hadn't helped me and I'll be forever grateful to you."

"It's not a problem."

The wind whipped through the park and I shivered. Catherine appeared to feel the cold too as she let out a tiny whimper.

I stood up. "I should get her back inside. I don't want her to catch a chill."

"Of course," he agreed smoothly. "She's a precious gift. You need to take care of her."

I went to walk away but then paused. "Shall I ever see you again, do you think?"

He shrugged. "Probably not, but then you weren't supposed to see me this time either, so I don't know."

I laughed softly at the perturbed expression on his face and then assumed my usual haughty public demeanour.

"Good day to you, Mr. Cullen."

He grinned and tipped his hat. "And to you too, Mrs. Molloy."

I got three steps away from him, before impulse made me spin around and rush back to where he was standing.

Cupping his face, I leaned down and pressed a kiss against his cheek.

"My avenging angel."

When I drew back, his hand came up to cover the spot on his face where I had kissed him and he stared at me with an unreadable look. I flashed him a quick smile and then darted back to where I had left Catherine.

The next time I glanced back, he was gone, disappeared into thin air.

Just like that.


End file.
